


Buying Cuddles

by BookofOdym



Series: Kinktober 2020 [14]
Category: Blue Beetle (Comics), Captain Atom (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics), Justice League International (Comics)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, M/M, Prostitution, Sex Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:28:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27031189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookofOdym/pseuds/BookofOdym
Summary: Max pimps Ted out to his teammates to pay for the Club JLI scandal, and when Nate hires him for the night, Ted assumes he's in for a night of punishments from an ultra-dom.It turns out Nate is touch starved, and only wanted a night of cuddles.
Relationships: Nathaniel Adam/Ted Kord
Series: Kinktober 2020 [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954096
Kudos: 11





	Buying Cuddles

By now, the Club JLI incident had been consigned to legend, every so often Wally or Ralph would make a joke about it, indicating that it would be talked about for years to come, but Booster and Beetle had been on cleaning duty for weeks. Ted for one, was certain that they would be taken off cleaning duty any day now, or at least he had been, until Booster had quit the team entirely.

Max had come into a room that Ted was cleaning almost immediately afterwards, just standing there, watching in silence. It had been a little creepy, and Ted only managed to last a little over two minutes of the treatment before he turned around to address the man.

“Something wrong, Max?” he asked, twirling his feather duster around in his hand like it was a baton.

“It’s about my money,” the older man told him, and Ted froze in place, his duster clattering to the floor.

“I thought... that we were working it off? That we were nearly done?” Ted said in a small voice, he didn’t have that kind of money, there was a reason he had to turn to get rich quick schemes in the first place.

“You can still work it off,” Max said hurriedly, “in fact, I have an idea for that, it’s just... since Booster’s gone...”

Max’s plan had pretty much just been for Ted to pay him back with his body, except instead of having Ted fuck him, he would allow the other members of the JLI to rent his services for an hour or two.

Honestly, Ted hadn’t expected a lot of interest, and he had been right in his scepticism, because in the week since the initial proposal the only person who had asked for him was Guy, who had made clear from the get go that the only reason he was doing this was that he didn’t have any other options. Ted thought that if it had been Booster doing this, there would be a lot more requests, but he wasn’t bitter or anything.

Guy had also been kind of rough, and Ted was still aching from it two days later. He’d just been about to head home, take some painkillers to distract him from his sore ass, and get some sleep. He’d just been about to head out for the night when his phone buzzed. The text was from Max.

“Captain Atom wants you over in Paris immediately,” the text said, “make sure to grab some condoms before you leave.”

That was... a little concerning. Not the stuff about the condoms, because really, it was nice to have some indication that Max cared. No, Ted’s main concern was that the person who had booked him was Nate.

They didn’t really get along, they never had, and finding out the truth behind Captain Atom hadn’t helped. Neither had Nate lying about being friends with Dan Garrett.

Possibly... Ted might have been willing to admit that his own insistence on calling the man Captain Traitor hadn’t helped either.

But the point was... Captain Atom didn’t like him, and after what Guy had done... Ted was sure this was going to be worse. Cap was gonna use this as an excuse to punish him for being such a little shit, and it was going to hurt, and he wasn’t going to Paris and no one could make him.

...It turned out that Max could make him. He had been standing right in front of the front door, waiting for Ted to make a break for it, he’d dragged him kicking and screaming towards the zeta tubes, shoved him in, and sent him to Paris before Ted could do anything.

Nate was waiting there when he arrived, glaring at the tube, and Ted wondered if he could hit the buttons for the Antarctica headquarters and hide out there for a few hours.

Nate looked mad, and that definitely meant angry sex, and it was only the memory of genetically modified killer penguins that stopped Ted punching in the digits.

Sex with Captain Atom... probably wasn't as bad as being eaten alive by a pack of 100 rockhoppers, especially when Nate was kind of hot. Especially when he was in his civilian form, like he was now.

"Yeah, he's a DILF," Ted murmured to himself, unaware that he was speaking out loud.

"What was that?" Cap asked, the first words he'd spoken since Ted arrived.

Beetle really was screwing everything up today. "Nothing! I didn't say anything!"

But now, Nate looked hurt. "I really don't know what it means. You know I'm from the 60s."

The inventor thought for a moment. "Dad In League with air Force," he said confidently.

"That sounds fake. That sounds like something you made up just now to annoy me." An uncomfortable silence filled the room, before Nate said: "I'll just go ask Wally."

If nothing else, Ted really wanted to avoid that chain of events in particular. Wally would never let him live it down if he found out Ted found Captain Atom hot.

He could just tell the truth.

"It means... you're hot. Specifically, it means you're a hot older gentleman. But you really shouldn't use it to people's faces."

Nate nodded along. "How about we head over to the TV room, I remember that you were badgering me to watch something called Back to the Future."

Wait, the TV room, not the bedroom? Did that mean... Nate wanted to fuck him in public?

"By the way," Nate told him, "I'm 28. Not really a hot older gentleman."

Ted wasn't sure how to ask him what he wanted, instead of telling him to get down on his knees, or telling him to climb into his lap, Nate had just patted the couch next to him, the universal signal for asking someone to sit next to you.

So that was what Ted did. He'd assumed that Cap was going to punish him, but if he was from the 60s... maybe he just missed his wife, and maybe they had just enjoyed each other's company before they had sex.

Except that idea was stupid, the idea that Ted could ever be considered a stand-in for someone's wife was ludicrous.

So what was it, then? Maybe Nate had asked for him on a whim because he wanted to try fucking a man, but was nervous about the whole thing because he'd never done it before.

Ted wasn't sure if his ass could take a clumsy virgin after what Guy had done to it. Which wasn't anything against Nate, it just... hurt.

Nate wrapped an arm around him, pulling him close, all the while Ted was having an internal freakout.

He should tell him. He knew he should tell him. He wouldn't be able to do his job properly, and then Nate would refuse to pay Max, and then Max would- No, that wasn't the problem here, the problem was that the second he got found out, Nate would shove him back in the tube, and then no more cuddles for him.

The man in question buried his face in Ted's hair, breathing in with a satisfied noise.

It had been years since the last time Ted had been held like this, and he wanted to enjoy it as long as possible.

But...

"I need to tell you something," he said finally, "I... I don't think I can have sex today. I was with Guy and-"

Nate looked concerned, and Ted hated it, because he wouldn't have been under normal circumstances. "He hurt you." Nate said, brushing a hand through Ted's hair.

"He was just rough. I can still... suck you off, if you want. He didn't fuck my mouth."

But Nate was back to holding him, staring at the screen, and not making any effort to reply to Ted.

It was five minutes before he said anything. "To be honest, I didn't ask you here for sex."

Huh?!

But wait, that would mean... was it possible that Nate had just wanted to cuddle from the get go. Would the universe be that kind to him?

"I'm sure this will sound strange, but I missed being able to cuddle with someone."

What?!

"No one will ever believe you if you tell them though."

Ted swallowed, depending on what he said in this moment, he'd either be kicked out, or...

"Yeah, but you don't have to pay Max!" Was what he decided on.

A sad smile crossed the taller man's face. "You're saying I should pay you directly."

Beetle was rapidly losing control of the conversation. "I'm saying it's been a long time for me too, and... hey, it turns out you're the perfect size for hugs. Oh no. I'm addicted. I have to come back for more tomorrow."

He swore he heard Cap snort into his hair at that.


End file.
